LFU:online

Dealing with historical sources and research literature; application of methods from auxiliary sciences of history; oral and written presentation; critical discussion.

Until today the functioning of political systems can only in part be explained from their written rules. This seems to apply even more to the structures of domination before the fundamental codified constitutions from the late eighteenth century onwards. Therefore, in the seminar we will deal with the question how formalized procedures and informal practices were connected in early modern central and Western Europe and how this relationship was affected by notions of legitimacy and illegitimacy. At the same time, we will exercise basic historical methods and forms of presentations with reference to selected examples.

Reading and discussion of sources and secondary literature; thematic presentations; group work.

Regular and active participation; oral presentation; written final paper.

Basic reading: (1) Emich, Birgit, Die Formalisierung des Informellen: Der Fall Rom, in: Reinhardt Butz / Jan Hirschbiegel (eds.), Informelle Strukturen bei Hof, Münster 2009, 149-156; (2) Grüne, Niels / Slanička, Simona (eds.), Korruption. Historische Annäherungen an eine Grundfigur politischer Kommunikation, Göttingen 2010; (3) Stollberg-Rilinger, Barbara, Die Frühe Neuzeit – eine Epoche der Formalisierung?, in: Andreas Höfele / Jan-Dirk Müller / Wulf Oesterreicher (eds.), Die Frühe Neuzeit. Revisionen einer Epoche, Berlin 2013, 3-27.

Online registration necessary!